Fork backstage

The penguin

2012-02-16T00:55:00.000-08:00

A lonely penguin in the Finnish winter night.

Last week we had a gig where the events manager not only treated the customer with some Fork but also gave them a spectacular ice sculpture show. It was amazing to see what skilled people can do with a piece of ice. Now, the evening could have turned out to be just one of those gigs where everything goes exactly like planned without any surprises. But this time the ice sculpturing must have been a bit too much for the events manager because when we met him, after the soundcheck when everything was still fine, he immediately started yelling a bunch of non-understandable things to us about mixing table being in the wrong place and us destroying the whole gig etc. It was quite an experience and we more or less looked like a bunch of question marks and since any attempt to discussion led nowhere we transported ourselves back stage to calm down and figure out what to do next.

Well, what happened next was this:
The events manager came back stage, he apologized for being stressed and behaving like such an you know what, we said everything was cool, we put on our make up, did a good gig for a great audience and everybody was happy.

Two bottles of sparkling was brought to us with a note saying Sorry for us complaining. :)

We had another gig last week as well where these wonderful ladies took such good care of us.

Now we are back in rehearsals.

Really looks like they know what they are doing.

Winter time

2012-02-05T23:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday there was yet again a new record for this winter, the temperature outside was as low as 40 degrees Celsius. Luckily not in Helsinki, here it was only - 23... For us Finns normal life goes on no matter what the temperature is, we put on one more pair of long johns and an extra sweater and we are off to work. I am not saying I enjoy this coldness but there really isn´t anything I can do about it, except move somewhere else of course.

This is not Siberia, this is Helsinki.

And about moving somewhere else, we just elected a new president for Finland (congratulation Mr. Niinistö, hope to see you in the audience soon again) which always is a bit exciting at least in the beginning. And then of course Helsinki is the World Capital of Design 2012 so no way am I leaving this hip and in city at least not this year.

Today and tomorrow we are doing corporate gigs, we still can´t do our new material for the audience, it needs more rehearsals. Last Friday at the rehearsal studio we experienced a moment of total emptiness, we sat for six hours and nothing happened, not a single good idea or inspiring thought. Luckily Linda came to see us, all tan and relaxed after two weeks in Mexico, and brought some chocolate and sparkling wine with her!

The boys in a sensitive duet.

The Year of the Dragon

2012-01-26T06:36:00.000-08:00

It´s the year of the Dragon and we are looking into the future. It is said that during the Dragon year the impossible is possible and that we want to believe!
We have been in the rehearsal studio for ten days now and lots have been done. Five new arrangements has seen the light and everybody is still alive and happy. Well, actually today the spirit wasn´t the most creative one and a scent of frustration was in the air. It felt like we had an idea but we couldn´t find the right way to make it happen. So frustrating! And when you have been singing for many hours and your voice is tired, your ears are tired, the ideas and the jokes are just bad and Kasper is threatening to suggest a Bee Gee song if that will make us more inspired, well, then it is time to stop and go home. And come back the next day with new energy.

I don´t know if you can read what it says on the voice live but this is one of the songs we have been working on. Lots of screaming from my side and I enjoy every minute of it.

Tomorrow we have a corporate gig, it would be great to try some of the new songs but it is still too early. Gotta work some more.

Kings Place

2012-01-16T03:28:00.000-08:00

Last night seven happy and tired Forkians arrived at Helsinki-Vantaa airport after having spent four great days in London!

This could be the cover picture of our next album but it isn´t. It is Fork arriving at London Gatwick airport and waiting for Linda to tell us what to do next.
We had the privilege of staying at the Finnish ambassadors residence, thank you Pekka and Liisa Huhtaniemi, at Kensington Palace Gardens (right next door to William and Kate) and the taxi driver had a very hard time believing that the hippies he was driving from the airport really had the right address. He asked us at least seven times if we were sure and do we know princess D used to live there next door and that it is a very high security area and so on. We were his first customers ever to go to an address on that street. I guess cabs usually aren´t needed around that area...

The Finnish hippies at Kensington Palace Gardens.

On Thursday we visited the Finnish Embassy to give an interview. Jonte and Linda took the chance to pre-vote in the Finnish President election since they wont be in Finland on the election day. Linda will be in Mexico on vacation, she needs some after this trip I guess...

We had a nice lunch with the people from the Embassy at the Star tavern which is known from the Great Train Robbery. Somewhere here in this room there might be millions hidden. In this picture - Linda, Tanja, Jouni, Tiina, Otto, Kasper, Jonte (what is he doing?!) Anna and Pirjo.
In the evening we went to see the Boxettes, a very good a cappella group with five hot women and a heavy beat.

On Friday we had soundcheck in the morning and in the evening it was time for us to get ready and do our thing. I was quite nervous before the gig since I knew the audience would be a very professional a cappella audience and what we do is break all the rules of traditional a cappella. I could sense in the beginning of the show that there were some question marks of What are they Doing? but when we came to Final Countdown and Jonte put on his wig it was clear that the audience had decided to like what they see. Even if they weren´t sure what it was. It was also clear that Modern talking wasn´t such a big hit in the UK in the 80´s as it was in Finland...

On Saturday we went to see The Swingle Singers who hosted the whole a cappella festival. They were really one of the best groups I have ever seen. So spot on. Multi-grammy award winners...

On Sunday morning we were hungry and tired.

But then we had some English Breakfast and the sun was shining again.

Today in Helsinki the sun isn´t shining at all, instead it is snowy and cold outside. Tomorrow we are going back into rehearsals and I am very much looking forward to that.

Thank you LACF for having us!

London baby!

2012-01-11T01:21:00.000-08:00

The new year has started and we are back to work after a very nice and calm vacation. Anna was enjoying some sun in Spain, Jonte was fixing on his new home, Kasper burnt his fingers on a fondue pot but then again he saved a house from burning down, Greg had his parents from France over for a visit, Linda was working (always is) and I have been scraping off paint from a ceiling.

Monday and Tuesday we spent in the rehearsing studio. It is amazing what a bit of vacation can do to the inspiration. In two days we did two new arrangements and the jokes were better than ever.

Today we fly to London to enjoy the LACF - the London A Cappella Festival! We are doing a concert at Kings Place on Friday the 13th (we are NOT superstitious!) and I am very much looking forward to that. This will be our first gig in London but hopefully not our last. We are also going to see other groups perform and of course mingle with all the a cappella people. Time to brush up on the a cappella vocabulary, like microphone, voice, tune, harmony.... Some of us are also really excited about Saturday afternoon when we are going to a local pub to watch a local football game. Some will focus on the game, some will focus on the local beer.

In Finland we finally got some snow. A cappella nerds going for lunch.

London, here we come!

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

2011-12-22T03:35:00.000-08:00

It´s time to settle down and enjoy the peace and joy of Christmas and to Thank you all for hanging out with us here on Fork backstage. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a great start on the New Year! We will be back in business sooner than you can imagine.

Here is a picture from our last gig this year.

And here are some pictures from our Christmas party!

Gregory.

Linda.

Jonte.

Kasper.

Me.

Anna. Later on that night.

Happy Holidays!

Inspiration!

2011-12-15T04:15:00.000-08:00

Our goal for the beginning of next year is to have time to go into the rehearsal studio and make new arrangements. Since we had a couple of non-gig-days this week we decided to start rehearsals already now. We begun by making a list of what song we would like to do, the list had up to 60 songs and I am sure there will be more after Christmas.

This is the Red list, the list of happy song. We also have a Black list, the list of more depressing but mostly very beautiful songs.

This is a face of an inspired sound wizard. In the beginning of the process when we make the arrangements Greg really can´t do anything else but listen and hope we will find something that works, then he can start doing his magic.

Here Jonte is very busy doing something very important on his phone. And Linda on her computer. Busy busy.

The bad weather hasn´t been helping us much in finding inspiration but at least Anna did her best by bringing in some colors to the rehearsals!

Yesterday we were bold enough to grab the microphones and just start singing. Since we don´t work by using sheet music the beginning is always the most difficult part for us. Neither have we decided who is the alto or the soprano, it all depends on how we want to build up the song and who has what kind of ideas. This gives us a freedom that suits us very well.

The beginning.

Nightclubs

2011-12-07T01:14:00.000-08:00

We´ve done two nightclub gigs this week, on Saturday we were in Lovisa and on Monday in Stockholm at Kägelbanan. We really love doing these kind of gigs and even if the sound on stage isn´t the best since the monitors very seldom are made for any kind of a cappella singing it doesn´t disturb us at all. The gigs are sweaty and loud and very up-tempo and the crowd is so ready to be entertained. Since the stages usually aren´t that big we are standing very close to each other and I can see and feel how my colleagues are working hard and enjoying the moment intensely.

Lovisa is a special place for me since it is my hometown and the incredible warm welcome we got just blew me away. This must be what Bon Jovi experience when they perform in New Jersey or U2 in Dublin. What a feeling!

Here are some pictures from the Lovisa gig.

And this is backstage. Tired but Happy.

The photosession

2011-11-29T23:58:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had a photosession for some new pictures. Since we have the greatest confidence in our stylist Minttu she can bring whatever clothes she wants and we will wear them. When she gave me this to slip into I felt a slight urge to question her choice but decided wisely not to. Because, as been said before, when it comes to style she knows what she is doing.

It took me and Minttu about an hour and a kilo of baby powder to get me into this but once I was in it felt like a second skin...

Also Anna had her share of baby powder and here she is with the wonderful make-up artist Jenni Jansson.

I cannot but admire the models that do this everyday. How do they manage to always look so relaxed? Yes, there are many things you can do by photoshopping the picture but you can´t change a bad face expression to a good. Or a tense pose to a relaxed. Or an empty look to an intensive look. So while standing on high heels in a rubber dress with a wind machine blowing your hair in all kinds of directions we all did our best to give the most intensive look while twisting our bodies into perfect poses. The great Nina behind the camera and Minttu were giving us hints of what they needed more of, or less of, and at some point one of them was shouting yes, that´s it!

If you are wondering what got stuck in Jontes pants it´s just some clips to make them even tighter.

Posing.

So long Casino

2011-11-17T04:24:00.000-08:00

This is our last week at the Casino Helsinki and we´ve had a good time. Nothing much new has been going on, no finger gestures, only happy people! Oh, and I need to get me a pair of new leather pants because last week during our gig I was dancing so wildly that I suddenly tore a big hole in my pants. Awkward moment.

Next week we have some time off and then in the beginning of December we are doing two concerts, one in my home town Lovisa and one in Stockholm, Sweden. Very excited about that.

The 23rd of November is the official release date for our Pink Noise Live record, we have already been selling it at our concerts and on iTunes but of course it feels nice with a special date for the release. It is of course a perfect excuse for some champagne, if you ever would need an excuse for something like that?

No time for chilling out during the breaks between the sets at casino. Anna and Kasper are glueing stickers with some important information on the Pink Noise live cd covers.

Excitement

2011-11-06T01:22:00.000-07:00

When we go deeper into the fall and closer to the darkest time of the year the Finns starts celebrating what we call pikku-joulut, directly translated as little-christmas. The firms throw parties for all the employees, the bosses drink together with the rest of the crew and we all try to forget that it will only get darker and colder for the next two-three months. The "little-christmas" audience is usually a great crowd, they are there to have fun and they want to be entertained. There has been some funny, or lets say interesting situations during the past years though.
Like the one man who felt the music so much that he came up on stage and asked me to put my mic down so he could dance with me. I tried to show that if we stop singing the music will stop, but he didn´t take no for an answer and while he was trying to grab my mic it accidentally hit my lip and started bleeding.
Or the one guy who threw his belt around me and started using me as a dance pole.
These things don´t happen very often and when they do it´s usually because the people are so happy and excited and full of party feelings.
But last week at the casino I had a new kind of interaction with a person from the audience. There was this young man who throughout the show had been talking quite loudly to his friends, kind of competing with our PA on the volume level, and in my last speak I pointed out to him that we all, the rest of the audience and we up on stage, could hear him very clearly. This man got so upset over me interrupting his conversation that he gave me the finger.
That was a new experience. Not the finger, I have had that before, but the being up on stage and given the finger.

We only have love and happiness in our group. This is from last Friday when we did a benefit appearance for the Red Nose day on Radio Vega.

Fan mail from a very young lady. Thank you Cassandra!

Odd situations

2011-10-27T00:47:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was quite an interesting day for us. The day kicked off with an appearance on FST5:s morning show on Finnish television which once again meant really early wake up. And once again I was amazed and thankful for the great make up that has been invented cause honestly, when you look yourself in the mirror at 5 a.m the first thought that comes to your mind is not: wow, this face is meant to be on tv right now! The happiest guy in Fork that morning was Gregory who didn´t have to be there to build up any sound systems or mix anything since the studio didn´t have the possibilities for that. So we went total a cappella, four microphones and some reverb.

In the evening we had an corporate gig and while doing soundcheck we realized that the guest dinner table was set for ten people. That´s a fairly odd situation, both for us and for the audience. Also the backstage was different..

We pointed out the obvious right from the start - you are the smallest crowd we´ve ever had so please don´t start text messaging or use the toilet or go for a smoke right now. But we didn´t need to worry, they were loud, laughing and singing along all the way. It´s not the size that matters.

The Fork massage.

Yesterday we were back at the Casino and here are some pictures from that gig.

Finnish schlager at it´s best.

Swedish schlager at it´s best.

Attitude at the casino.

Casino time

2011-10-20T01:39:00.000-07:00

Last night was our opening at the Casino Helsinki where we will be performing for five weeks, 4 nights a week. The opening went fine but the hours before the opening, or lets say even the minutes before entering the stage, were pretty hectic. I´ll give you a small glimpse of what was happening backstage:

This is in the morning. Tobias is programming lights and Kasper and Greg are trying to figure out how to get the tvs working. And to their own surprise they succeeded!
After this we had soundcheck which went fine except that we have this new song with lots, I mean lots of words to learn by heart to sing all together at the same time with the right words in the right key. Gregory looked really concerned during soundcheck and also the rest of us didn´t feel too comfortable but let me tell you, it is amazing how these old brains still, at times, work! Not a single word went wrong in front of the audience. Tonight we are going to find out if our long-term memory still works.

Yesterday we also got new stage clothes which we were all looking very much forward to. Actually they were supposed to come already on Tuesday so there would be time to, well, at least try them on once before entering the stage. But they came one hour before the show so the following pictures are a bit unsharp since the atmosphere was quite tense.

Yes it fits! Now we just need to get the zipper up.

Yes, great, except a shirt is missing. This is our own little Slash.

I am ironing Annas dress on a chair. Of course with a glass of champagne. Wait, why am I ironing Annas dress?

Oh yes, because Anna is trying to get her shoes on.

Jonte and his new jewellery.

Seconds before entering the stage. The smiles are a bit tense I admit. Especially Annas and mine since we weren´t totally sure if the dresses were going to stay up or not.

And then we have Linda. Who no matter how busy we are always have the time to strike a pose.

Games we play

2011-10-07T03:32:00.000-07:00

Only two more performances and our Sweden tour is over. Tonight we are in Vaggeryd, tomorrow in Falköping and on Sunday we are flying home. I will miss all the fun we have had but I wont miss the unpacking and repacking of the suitcase over and over again..

Last night was a night off and the whole crew went bowling. We divided into two teams - Technicians and Artists. We have done two game nights already, Mega Zone, which the Artists won and Combined sports with mini-golf, thai chi, shooting sports and intelligence test, which the Artist won as well. Yesterday it was time for the Technicians to finally win. And oh that joy.

Ubbe, Henrik and Baba. On their way to victory.

You can´t always win.

We do have the best technician crew ever, they make life so easy for us. The only thing we have to do is show up for soundcheck and then be good on stage for 120 minutes. We do try to help them sometimes but I have a feeling they just think we slow things down.

Jonte is helping Tobias.

On our way to work.

Heading South

2011-10-03T11:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we finished our week up in north by doing a concert in Östersund which is situated in the mid of Sweden. We had some fantastic days up in Luleå and Boden, not only was the audience wonderful but also the scenery was incredible. Here some pictures from Storforsen, Big Rapids, in Älvsbyn.

Yes, sometimes we look like dorks.

This place was really energizing!

We had the weekend off and Kasper, Jonte and Anna went to visit some friends and do some fishing. According to them the size of the fish they caught could feed the whole swedish population for a decade.

Me again I flew home to see my family and on Sunday I flew back via Stockholm, Arlanda to Östersund, in good time before the concert. The trip didn´t go as smoothly as I was hoping for - of course the flight from Helsinki was late and when we landed in Stockholm I had exactly 12 minutes time to make it from terminal 5 to terminal 4. There was nothing else to do than to use the advice I got when I as a teenager was training for the 800 meters. Picture me running, like a nordic elk with its butt on fire, while pulling down the quite short skirt I was wearing and holding on to my hand luggage. Then through the security control where you nowadays have to strip down to almost nothing and pull out everything you have in your bag and still the alarm is beeping and you have to go back and take off your shoes (at that point I might have said a bad word to the security woman and for that I am sorry). But yes, I made it and the whole crew of the aircraft was cheering for me.

Today we drove 550 km to Västerås where we will be doing a show tomorrow.

Going north

2011-09-27T15:42:00.000-07:00

On our way up to Umeå we enjoyed some spectacular views. Naturally we had to stop for a picnic and our daily yoga routine.

Greeting the Sun.

And this would be Down Dog. Very flexible people.

We really didn´t know what to expect of the Umeå audience or would there be any audience at all but after our two performances I feel like we made a lot of new friends. It is always a bit scary to perform in a city you never done before and especially in the beginning of the show you can see people think What am I watching, Who are these people and Where is the a cappella?

We all have our own routines before the show on how to concentrate and focus on the coming performance. I am not totally convinced of Jonte´s and Kasper´s ways.

An average day at work.

Usually we do our own makeup and hair but sometimes it is easier to get by with a little help from your friends.

Gregory reveals some hidden skills of him.

Tomorrow we have a day off, the only thing we have to do is to drive to Luleå because on Thursday we have a performance in Boden.

Thank you Umeå!

First stop

2011-09-25T02:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our grand opening for the Pink Noise by Fork tour in Sweden and our journey began in Gävle. Our 18 meter long truck with Tobias, Baba and Henrik already arrived on Thursday and we flew in on Friday. It was quite impressive to watch the guys unload the truck, everything was on wheels and the roading went so smoothly that by the time I got up on stage to give a helping hand it was already done.

This is where we keep our costumes when touring. On the note it says Forks clothes service done. Please take them away. The greeting is from the wonderful people at Svenska Teaterns costume department who agreed on washing and serving our clothes after we had used them for 30 days in Edinburgh. They were not the freshest clothes in town...

First day on tour and they still smell so good.

Soundcheck at Gävle teater. Very relaxed feeling.

Behind the light, sound and video desk the feeling wasn´t as relaxed. I have no idea what the problem was, they usually don´t tell us, but by the time the show started everything worked just fine.
We had a great crowd in Gävle, I am sure a big part of the audience had no idea what they were about to experience but in the end of the evening the house was full of happy people.

Happy people.

Soon we are on our way to Umeå. Tobias and Baba with the truck, Henrik, Gregory and Ubbe in one car and Anna, Kasper, Jonte and me in the other car. I am guessing the level of the jokes will be really high...

Gävle.

Back in Business!

2011-09-21T06:47:00.000-07:00

Vacation is over and on Tuesday we flew to Stockholm, Sweden to do a corporate gig. Since we hadn´t seen each other for such a long time we were all very happy to meet again. The jokes seemed so fresh and new even if they were not.

Kasper and Anna look happy but as you can see Jonte is a bit sad. It´s just because he wasn´t professional enough to catch a cold while being on vacation like the rest of the group did. He got the worst cough ever a few days ago but amazingly enough there was no coughing during the performance. Now that´s Professional.

And this is supposed to help?

It seems like we really have good luck with our backstage rooms wherever we go nowadays. This time we got to enjoy this spectacular view:

On wednesday morning a taxi picked us up at 3.30 a.m (seriously, 3.30?!) to take us to TV 4 where we performed two songs and gave an interview on the Morning show. I cannot imagine what it would be like getting up that early every morning. How do you manage? Because this is what we looked like:

No brain function whatsoever. Nothing. This is backstage at TV 4, if you look really closely at the numbers in the picture you see that it says 03.59.06. Not a good time to sing a cappella. Except of course if you are at a night club and you are hitting the last high notes in the last song of the evening.

But the crew at TV 4 is so nice and they have really good coffee and excellent breakfast so it was definitely worth a visit.
On Friday we fly back to Sweden to start our Pink Noise by Fork tour with Riksteatern. We are doing 8 cities in two weeks and I will keep you updated on what´s going on. So far it seems like we don´t have to change our clothes while singing. But who knows, things might be different on Friday.

Traveling light

2011-09-04T23:38:00.000-07:00

Even if we are an a cappella band doesn´t mean we travel light. This is Gregs 108 kg beautybox which he needs with him on every gig. The expression of the person behind the check-in counter is usually not the happiest one when we are the next in line.

This is last Saturday at Arlanda airport, Sweden, on our way to do a concert in Dalhalla.

The concert in Dalhalla took place in a huge mine and was quite an experience. The concert was a mix of the Dala symphony orchestra, opera singer Loa Falkman, actress and singer Åsa Fång and us. It was, to say the least, a grand mixture of music genres but it seemed to work really well and the audience was very happy!

Dalhalla concert place. As you can see there is water in front of the stage and we really had to do some serious impulse stopping not to stage dive. Greg is sitting in the small booth in the middle of the audience. He usually has the best seat in the house.

The stage, the guys, and the orchestra in the back doing their soundcheck.

Our two concerts in Sellosali, Espoo last week were so much fun and we fully enjoyed not having a time limit to have to keep. I have a feeling we were talking more than singing... sorry for that. The concerts were sold out and the crowd was great! It felt good to be home.

The audience and us in Sellosali 31.8.

Now we are having some time off, two weeks to be exact, before we start touring Sweden. Personally I will be focusing on picking mushrooms, washing windows and family dinners. And the task that was given to each and everyone: coming up with ideas for a new repertoire.

Last picture from Edinburgh. Traveling light.

Tears and laughter

2011-08-29T02:28:00.000-07:00

Our time here in Edinburgh is coming to an end. It´s Monday morning and time to pack our suitcases, clean the apartment and leave. We had an absolutely fantastic last performance, the audience carried us from the beginning to the end and by the time we came to the last song there were tears and laughter mixed in the singing.

After every show we put on our bathrobes and met the audience again outside the theatre for CD signing.

It is also time to say goodbye to all the wonderful people we have met here. The staff has been so helpful and always in a good mood and we will miss each and everyone. They still have to tear down and clean up the festival and that will take some more days of hard work. I haven´t yet figured out when they sleep or do they sleep at all? Tough people!

Us with the wonderful ladies of Assembly.

When we got to our apartment last night we sat down and went through the schedule of this upcoming fall. Who is where, where will the mixing table be, when do we rehears, are we flying or taking the boat, who is picking up who, what clothes are we wearing, who takes care of what and when do we have vacation? So work doesn´t end here. It only just began!

One big happy family

2011-08-25T03:17:00.000-07:00

On Monday we did a guest appearance on the newly crowned World Loop-station Champion Shlomos show Mouthtronica. He wanted us to improvise which can be lots of fun but sometimes a massive catastrophe. We were the last act on and had an hour time to watch his phenomenal beatboxing and singing, he is really something! I wasn´t sure how we would mix with him but I didn´t need to worry. He knew what he was doing and we had a great time on stage.

Shlomo and Fork backstage.

On Tuesday we did for the second time a guest appearance on Horne section. It´s a totally crazy show which we all love and have been watching many times. We had a great time even if we hardly heard anything of what we were singing but the crowd seemed happy so we were happy.

Between the guest appearances we focus on our own show. Serious business.

Yesterday we had a party at home with takeaway pizza and red wine. We had good discussions about the past and the future. Also realized that in a week we will be doing concerts in Sellosali, Espoo, Finland! Time flies when you are having fun.

One big happy family.

Respect

2011-08-21T16:55:00.000-07:00

It´s been a while since I wrote my last blog and the reason to that is that the sun has been shining in Edinburgh! And when the sun shines you go outside and you pay your respect.
After three weeks we all have our own routines. I usually wake up first, then Jonte, Anna and Kasper. Then Gregory. And then Linda. We don´t talk during breakfast, only some short how are you and did you sleep well kind of phrases. Then everyone has their thing they want to do during the day. Jogging, climbing, reading, skyping, sleeping, shopping, seeing performances or just chilling. (Except Linda of course, who is working all the time. By now she has four phones...) Then we eat lunch and then it´s already time to get ready for the show. I am amazed over how smoothly everything has been going with this living all together-thing. No fights, no complaining and no hard feelings.

The other day Kasper, Jonte and I went climbing.

Kasper in action.

My climbing style is a bit different. But we respect each other nevertheless.

We also have the greatest respect for the staff at the George Square Theatre. They work 14 hours per day for the third week and they still smile. They even have time to take a pose for a picture.

This is Kate, Lauren, Liam, V-G, George and Stu. And some lens lice.

Make-up and glitter

2011-08-16T03:21:00.000-07:00

Another side of the work here is doing promotion gigs, interviews, pod-casts, live radio shows and all kinds of different show-ups and hanging around. Yesterday we performed at BBC radio live in front of an audience with Viva la Vida and Bohemian Rhapsody. We had to be there quite early in the morning to do soundcheck, which you can sense in the picture below.

The day before we had a pod-cast performance at 11 a.m, also in front of an audience which of course means that you have to show up in full make-up and glitter pants. Picture the face expression of the waiter at the lunch restaurant we went to directly afterwards...

Tonight after the show we are going out for a drink with our flyer team. Our flyer team consist of six people whose work is to hand out flyers of Pink Noise to people on the streets and convince them to come and see the show. The importance of their work is huge and we really have a great team!

The other day one of them, who I had not met before, stopped me, gave me a flyer and begun his quite convincing speak about the show. I was like uuuuh hmm well thanks but don´t worry, I will be there every night. He looked at me a bit confused, said okay and walked away. I realize that you cannot underestimate the power of make-up...

Here I am in the Assembly garden, enjoying the few minutes of sunshine before I crawl into the green tunnel...

Catching

2011-08-11T03:00:00.000-07:00

This week we have our families here and on the first (and only) rain free day we hiked to Arthur´s seat to experience the spectacular view over Edinburgh.

In the evening we visited a Japanese restaurant, Koi, were the chef gave us an unforgettable evening when serving the rice by throwing it at us. And we were supposed to catch it. Let´s just say that all the kids caught their portions and the adults did their best...

Gregory in action.

We have also been watching different performances, from Korean drum sessions and wild dancing by Flawless to a cappella singing by the Magnets to extraordinary beat boxing by Shlomo. There are so many performances to see here and every day I hear of new shows that are must-see shows. The first show starts at 10 a.m and the last show at 1 a.m and after that you have to go and have a drink and talk about what you´ve seen and then suddenly it is morning again and there is a new performance you just have to go and see and so on and so on. This festival is addictive! And in between all of this we are supposed to squeeze in our own performance...

Some of us wont let the festival chaos disturb the holy moment of playing phone games.

Sunday morning

2011-08-07T03:34:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe we already been here for a week. I guess time flies when you are having fun.

Jonte having fun in the kitchen.

The shows are going well and the fast changeover hasn´t given us any trouble. Last night after the show we had dinner with the Finnish embassy. I guess we are doing something right because the lovely ladies from the embassy came to see our show, twice.

Anna in her most positive morning mood.

Today after the show we are going directly to Radio Forth to do a live performance in front of an audience. At least we should be well warmed up.

Mia not quite yet ready for the show.

Next week we are having our families over and maybe we´ll even have time to see some shows. And then of course we want to do some hiking in the mountains with a nice picnic under a great blue sky. Did I mention by the way that it´s raining every now and then here in Edinburgh?

Product placement a la Fork.

Furniture?

2011-08-04T15:16:00.000-07:00

Two nights down, 22 to go! Yesterday was our first pre-show and I would lie if I would say I wasn´t nervous. The staff at the George Square Theatre is wonderful, I cannot believe how calm they are even when surrounded by neurotic performers. They have 20 minutes time to make changes on stage between every show. And there are eight different shows on our stage each day...
So far everything has been going fine, knock on wood. As far as I know we all have been able to get into the right clothes on time, no one has been naked on stage. Yet. Yesterday we had a clock on stage to make sure we kept the 70-minute time limit and lets just say we were pretty exact on that.

Work doesn´t stop after the show. No, that is when we put on our bathrobes, jump into a taxi and go to do some promotion performance somewhere.

Two things are difficult for me here in Edinburgh. First we have the left-hand traffic. I still am not sure where I should look when I cross the street, I am a real hazard for the drivers.
And then we have the language. The other day we were on our way to an interview. Outside the radio station a woman came up to us and asked, or at least I thought she asked, if we were here for the furniture. I was thinking come on, look at us, do we look like we are here for some furniture and just swept by. Well, imagine how stupid I felt when she some minutes later came up to the studio just to check that everything was okay.... I tried to make a joke about how difficult english is for me but she probably just thought I was the weirdest person in town.

Celebrating our first Fringe performance with the whole Fork crew.

The green door

2011-08-02T03:41:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Edinburgh! Behind this door lives Fork! After two nights in the same flat I already have deja vu feelings from Friends. So far we are having a great time.
Yesterday was our only rehearsal time at the George Square Theatre. We had eight hours time to load in, build up, install the video, rig the lights, make a soundcheck and have a run- through. On the technical side everything was working perfectly thanks to our wonderful crew. On the artistic side we had some issues... Somehow Jontes white shoes did not make it to Edinburgh and finding white riding boots in size 41 is not that easy. But Linda, who can fix most things, also fixed this one as you can see in the picture below.

The other excitement was of course the already by now well known changing-clothes-while-singing situation. We finally got to try it with all the bits and pieces that goes with it. Did it work? Lets just say that none of us were naked when entering the stage again... It didn´t go as smoothly as I had dreamt of but I am sure that in two weeks we will not only have time to get dressed without stress, we will also have time to put on new make-up, have a drink and make a phone call before re-entering the stage.
This is our theatre.

And this is what we look like when we are lost.

Right now we are sitting in our dining room trying to figure out how to be able to do some of the promotion gigs when the arrangers think we can perform without any technic. This is where the word a cappella gives you problems. "Come on guys, just sing one song, you don´t need any microphones or PA." Well... we do claim to be the group that reinvents a cappella.

Check list

2011-07-30T01:34:00.000-07:00

One more night and we are on our way to Edinburgh and the Fringe festival. I have really tried not to spoil the last days of vacation by only talking about Fringe but I don´t think I have succeeded very well. My check lists are all around the house, (like "go to the hairdresser", and that I did yesterday. Thank you Elina at Ges hiusmuotoilu! Check.)

And then there is the packing, of course. If a girl is going away for a month there is a lot that has to fit in the suitcase. As I write this I still haven´t packed a thing but I got it all in my head... The shoes...all the shoes that need to fit. I checked the weather forecast for Edinburgh and lets just say that I have a feeling it is quite a challenging city when it comes to shoes.
Then we have the clothes. Not only the show clothes (they should already be in Edinburgh. I hope.) But the clothes in general. I wont get into it here and now but it has given me a few sleepless nights.

I have no idea what our lovely producers Linda and Anna have been doing but every time I call them to see if there is anything I should be concerned about or something I have to fix they tell me to relax and enjoy the vacation and See you at the airport, don´t worry, everything is under control. Hm...sounds suspicious to me.
As I checked our calendar some days ago I realized that Linda and Anna really have been working. Not only are we doing the Pink Noise show every night, (except two wednesdays), we also have the mornings and evenings booked for radio performances, interviews and stuff like that.

So Bye bye Vacation - Hello Edinburgh!!

and btw, the pictures are from Hanko.

More Summer!

2011-07-18T11:52:00.000-07:00

We had a gig at Vaasa rock last Friday, it was great fun but Jonte wasn´t that good so we decided to replace him. With Paleface.

But as we arrived at Hangö Casino the next day Jonte was back in the group and everybody was happy.

We were quite bored for some hours while waiting for the soundcheck to start (there was a slight misunderstanding about the size of the PA system we wanted so we had to get another one from Helsinki. How many people do you know with a truck drivers license and available and sober on a summer Saturday afternoon? There is only one and we found him! Thank you Kim.) So we did some sightseeing and goofed around.

I am not sure our make-up was perfect that evening because we were more focused on the grand view we had from our backstage.

On our way home we stoped in Karjaa were we, at 2.30 a.m, unloaded our stuff only to put them in the truck that will take them to Edinburgh and the Fringe festival. That´s were our next concert will be… So now some more days of some kind of vacation and then off we go!

By the way, check out the taxis in Edinburgh.

Summer!

2011-07-06T07:13:00.000-07:00

Just to let you know that we are still alive and kicking I am posting some pictures from our last concert from the Riihimäki Rock Festival. The weather was perfect (if you were sitting down and enjoying a cold beer or a gin tonic in the shadow..) the audience was great and we had fun!
In this first picture you see Jonte getting pretty. This was one of the few places that had some kind of shadow.

Lots going on here. Hot yoga combined with deep discussion.

Too hot to stand for line check.

Minutes before. We are rehearsing Paranoid. As you can see none of us seem to remember exactly how it goes...

The only way out is in. These are the scary seconds.

We survived! Even if Anna was quite sure her latex shoes would burn into her skin because of the heat.
Thank you Riihimäki. Next week Vaasa! Enjoy the weather while it lasts.

cause for gratitude

2011-06-22T23:49:00.000-07:00

For ten years now we have organized a Fork family picnic in June. The idea is to get everyone together who has worked with us during the past years or who just happens to be close to us in one way or another. It´s kind of a picnic were we say thank you and I am sorry... This year the feeling of gratitude was big, not only because we have been stretching our family members patience with lots of time away and late nights by the computer answering work emails, and they still came to the picnic. But also because our Gregory was in a car accident the day before the picnic. The car looks like a raisin but the man is fine. Of course bruised and shaken but nothing broken and very much alive. According to his wife his biggest concern was will he be able to do our concert the day after...

And yes, Gregory was mixing our concert at the Popkalaset, he wasn´t allowed to carry anything which he thoroughly enjoyed the whole day while Jonte and Kasper were doing the roading. But he once again did a fantastic job with making the Fork sound and we are so happy for that.
And about Popkalaset, what a great happening! The sun was shining, the crowd was big and happy and I could see in the eyes of my colleagues, behind the microphones, that now this is how we like it!

Have a great Juhannus - Midsommar everyone!!

Plan B

2011-06-16T23:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a technical run-through and final rehearsal for Edinburgh with our light guy Tobias and our video guy Henrik. And of course Greg on the sound. Tobias and Jonte, who were in Edinburgh a week ago to check out our performing space at the George Square Theatre, have been doing some excellent work on planning how we are going to do the show there. Still there are many things that are impossible to decide before we are on location. This is quite nerve-wrecking... We have now made plan A, plan B and plan C. Just in case. And I am sure we will be using plan D in the end. There are always things you cannot predict. But this is kind of the thrill of it and will give us all some long wonderful sleepless nights...

Today we are doing the set list for Saturdays gig at Popkalaset in Ekenäs. It´s going to be a great way to end this season and start a few weeks of vacation! I just checked the weather forecast for the weekend and let´s just hope they are a bit wrong in their prediction. We want sunshine!

Tobias, Henrik and Jonte. Planning.

The Truth!

2011-06-09T01:02:00.000-07:00

This morning I was confronted with Brutal Facts. As I had my morning coffee I listened through the material for our upcoming Pink Noise Live album. 13 tracks of live singing. 13 tracks of us going oioio, uhuh, nanan, chukachuka, dingding and where our wonderful sound wizard Greg does magic with his fingers twisting my oioiois into something nice and cool.
And then there were my solos. And I am thinking No, that´s not me. I don´t sound like that. Do I sound like that? Why haven´t anyone told me I sound like that??!! This is the brutal facts-moment. You see, in my head I sound different, even if I have heard myself hundreds of times recorded I never get used to it. I am not saying it sounds better or worse but sometimes unawareness just makes you a happier person.

When I listened through the material for the third and fourth time I was able to focus on the whole. Many things sound so different from what I hear in my ear monitors on stage. We all have our own personal ear monitor mixes where you only hear what you want to hear and I usually have my colleagues sweet clean voices in mine, it helps me to stay in tune. So now, being able to listen to the whole of the song is great! And I must say that the record is not bad. Not bad at all.

Leftovers from our press conference. Anna, me and the watermelons.

2 minutes 12 seconds

2011-06-05T23:07:00.000-07:00

Strange but true. Summer is here! We still have three more weeks of intense work and tons of things to do before some kind of vacation.
A couple of blogs ago I wrote about our changing clothes - problem in the Edinburgh version of Pink Noise. Last week we then finally gave it a try. Picture this:
Thursday at 1 p.m. Forks rehearsal room, four singers all dressed in the white Pink Noise clothes. The singers imagine they are on the stage in Edinburgh, finishing a song and waiting for the applause. There comes the applause, then a bow and then black. 12 seconds of black. The singers storm out from the stage and rips off pieces of clothes. After 12 seconds they are again standing in front of the audience, behind a see-through curtain, in silhouette, wearing only underwear, singing. At this point they really hope they can trust the light guy... Then, after 15 seconds, the silhouettes disappears and the singers once again storm out. During the next two minutes, while the singers keep on singing the song, magic happens. And if everything goes as planned (there really are no options) out comes four singers dressed in... well, let that be a secret.
This is what we did last week at work. Smart? No. Fun? Yes.
I don´t have any pictures from this session since I was quite busy slipping out of one dress into another.
I give you this picture instead. Lahnajärvi, Finland. Summer at its best.

Humour

2011-05-30T00:13:00.000-07:00

Humour is universal. This I came to think of last week when we did lots of different corporate gigs. The audiences varied from young to not so young, from Finns, Swedes, Canadians, Turks to Germans and Brazilians, from leaders in high positions to people in not such high position, from big international companies to small Finnish companies, from big parties with 500 people to small ones with 40 people, from cocktail parties to a five-course dinner party.
The client is often concerned about that the audience wont understand our humour. Because they are from abroad. Or because they are not that international. Or because they are older. Or because they are rich or poor or whatever reason you can think of.

What we need to know before we make our list of song is - how long is the set? how big is the party? is the audience sitting or standing? how long has the party been going on before we perform? The rest doesn´t matter. We don´t sing differently because the people in front of the stage are Italians. We have never experienced that our humour in the speaks between the songs would have to be different because of any of the reasons above.
We all basically laugh at the same things. Humour is universal.
But the sense of humour can vary quite a bit...

No humour in this picture. Only some serious rock-n-roll business going on.

The Crazy Brazilian

2011-05-24T00:48:00.000-07:00

Back in Helsinki. Today we have the morning off and that means that Kasper is probably wall climbing, Anna is doing some dubbing for an animation, Jonte is working on some of the material from our upcoming new album, Greg is mixing that same material, Linda is writing one million e-mails and I am washing my clothes. And then later on today we will meet for sound check, make-up and gig. All fresh and new.

Today I want to introduce you to the Crazy Brazilian. The thing is that there are times when we are put in front of a camera, for a newspaper or just someone who wants our picture. And it´s not always the easiest thing to look natural and cool in a picture, especially backstage when you are kind of out of character. Sometimes the smiling just doesn´t come natural and we only look stiff and uncomfortable.

A friend of mine heard me complain about this and he introduced me to the Crazy Brazilian:
When you are in front of the camera, smile as much as you can, really feel the madness in the smile, it should even hurt a bit in your face if you are doing the smiling right. Feel like a crazy Brazilian. And in the picture it will look really natural and good. It is magic. Check out the pictures below: the first is just us trying to look nice, the second is the Crazy Brazilian.

Normal.

Crazy.

On the Road

2011-05-19T02:20:00.000-07:00

This week we are doing five gigs in four different cities. So we are on the road. Monday started off with the great feeling of success - Finland did win the World Championship in Ice hockey! But after standing in front of a microphone for four hours trying to record some intro music for the Edinburgh version of Pink Noise the feeling of success was long gone. Sometimes the most simple things can be so hard... In the picture you can see that I am really trying to get it right this time.

On Tuesday and Wednesday we had concerts in Pargas, Finland. It´s the second time we visit this place and we love it. The audience was once again so friendly and warm, the stage is nice and the backstage is, well, small. Today we are moving on to Tampere, then Turku and on Saturday we are performing on the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki in front of 20 000 teenagers! I am very much looking forward to that even if someone (I will mention no names but he is French) decided that our sound check is at 7 a.m... It will be exciting!

Greetings from Pargas backstage!

Happy People

2011-05-15T07:23:00.000-07:00

This weekend we have been working but oh what a pleasure it has been! Friday started off with a delivery from Minttu - a bag full of goodies meaning new clothes for Anna and new shoes for me. And a note: Mia, I know what you think about the shoes but just wear them! In the bag I found these wonderful black platform shoes with 15 cm heel... History has thought me one thing: don´t go into an argument with Minttu about clothes - she is always right.

In the evening we had a gig at DTM, I think the best place in Helsinki for club gigs. And it was crazy! Hot, sweaty and loud. Anna looked like a million dollars in her new clothes, Jonte almost didn´t make it back to the stage after his tour in the audience in Pokerface, Kasper was flirting heavily with the audience and they right back at him, and I did not make a fool out of myself in my stilts. The audience was the greatest - loud, happy and dancing. At some point the screaming was reaching such decibels that it wasn´t safe to take out the ear monitors anymore. We Love That!

Happy people right after the DTM gig.

On Saturday we had a private gig. In our raider it says that the customer should provide the band with a meal. And oh what a meal! Sometimes it´s easy to forget that you actually are working...

Unfortunately our Paradise Oskar didn´t win the Eurovision contest but today, Sunday, I am holding my breath for the Finnish hockey team! Yes we can!

It´s Business time!

2011-05-10T12:02:00.000-07:00

Some years ago we realized that we needed help. We had reached a point where we simply didn´t have time to rehears anymore. Instead we were getting late for meetings where stuff we really weren´t that comfortable talking about was to be discussed. Or then we were, twenty minutes before a show was about to start, desperately shopping for shoes that would be bearable to wear on stage but still look good. (the result of that you can see in my last post...)
So we understood that maybe there are people out there who can do these things better than we can. The Business people. The Marketing people. The Styling people. The Stage designing people.

For two days now I have been sitting in meetings. Because it´s not like we aren´t attending meetings anymore, we still are, who wouldn´t need our opinions...and I am totally exhausted. But still, I have a feeling of ease because we have found those people, the people that needs to be in the Fork family to make things happen. Linda, Anna, Minttu, Tobias, Harry, Henrik, Mikko.

So I went happily back to rehearsals to once again feel the wonderful joy of singing, which BTW wasn´t happening today because we were so out of tune and no one had the energy to correct it in anyway, only giving each other the bad eye, like - why isn´t he listening to what I am trying to do here, come on, how hard can it be... - stuff.

The lovely duo - Linda and Anna.

First Who...Then What

2011-05-05T07:43:00.000-07:00

First Who...then What. This I read in a book about how to create a successful business. If this is the case, we had a great start. In June it will be 15 years ago since we sat down around a kitchen table and decided that we wanted to do something together. Didn´t really matter What it was, just something fun that involved music and wasn´t that serious.
It was definitely first Who.

The next thing the book says is Confront the Brutal Facts (yet never lose faith). Seven years ago when we decided to leave all other jobs and only do Fork we were confronting the brutal facts. Very quickly we realized that making a living as a musician wasn´t necessary that easy, making a living as an a cappella musician was close to impossible. Close but not totally. The biggest challenge was, and still is, to get the message through about what we are doing. With some experience I can say that using the word a cappella isn´t always the fastest way to sell a good idea. For most people, at least seven years ago, a cappella was a group of people singing church music or a wilder version - five guys in suits singing woo-bop while snapping their fingers. Maybe one day a cappella will be explained like this: ..yeah it´s like four people in leather and cat suits singing cool songs while shaking their butts...
We are Confronting the Brutal Facts yet never loosing faith.

The last thing the book says is There is no Miracle Moment. At least so far I can agree on that.

In this picture I see no What, No Miracle and only Brutal Facts. At least in 2001 we were on our way to greatness!

Kiss from a rose

2011-04-29T04:28:00.000-07:00

Everybody makes mistakes. Making mistakes is usually a good thing in the end (or at least that´s what I have been told...) and it´s so very human. But making one in front of 500 people is not a good thing. It´s more like the most uncomfortable thing that can happen to you.
After all these years of being in this business I still get nervous before entering the stage. It´s a good thing, it means that I don´t take for granted that things will go smoothly. It means that I know how it feels when things go wrong. Like in february 2010, yes it´s over a year ago and I should get over it already, but it still hunts me.
We were performing Pink Noise at Svenska teatern in Helsinki, sold out performance, happy people everywhere, things looked really great. Then we come to the song Kiss from a rose. A very sensitive song with no extra technic, only four voices and a microphone. We have shared the lyrics in the song, each of us has certain lines that we are responsible for while the rest of the group goes ooo or aaa. We come to my line, which I repeat four times in the song, and I am having a total black out. Nothing there, not a single word. Emptiness. I try to make up some words but it sounds more like I am choking. We make it through the first verse, my colleagues are trying not to burst out in total laughter while I, in great panic, am realizing that soon I have to do the line again so I better start remembering it. Like right now. But no. It never came to me. The second time I was still trying, the third time I sang ooo and the fourth time I just gave up and kept quiet. At this point my fellow singers had left me far behind and was desperately trying to save their own skin. We came to the end of the song, took the applauses and continued with the next, the rest of the group wiping away their tears of laughter and me in pure horror. I had just experienced unintentional total nakedness in front of a large group of people.
I survived, of course. But still, when we sing Kiss from a rose, I can recall that feeling. Today I have a couple of different mnemonic rules on how to get the words right. Just in case... And I did learn something. Don´t get too comfortable!

Busy day

2011-04-27T12:11:00.000-07:00

Two days of rehearsals. Our focus is on making changes to the Edinburgh version of Pink Noise. And finding somewhere to live during the four weeks over there. And making sure the PR people in Scotland have the right information about us. And figure out why some things sound bad today when they sounded so good yesterday. And making new click tracks for our ear monitors. And making sure everybody knows at what time soundcheck is tomorrow. And deciding on when we will have barbecue night. And buying a bike on the internet.
I am really looking forward to the gig tomorrow where I am forced to concentrate on only one thing - singing! Good night.

One Good Idea

2011-04-21T03:06:00.000-07:00

An Icelandic director once said to me during rehearsals: come up with one good idea per day and you will finish with a great performance. Since we are six people working in Fork it means that I have to deliver a good idea only every 6th day. How hard can that be? Mostly very hard... but yesterday I actually did it. I believe I solved the changing clothes - problem! At least I was very excited and still am.

I want to believe that we make decisions in the group based on democracy but honestly, sometimes it´s more by the Rules of the Jungle - the fittest will survive. No mercy, may the best idea win! So maybe right now at this moment, when I am about to start Easter vacation with chocolate eggs and red wine and the delightful feeling of coming up with that One Good Idea, the rest of the group is in a secret meeting somewhere, laughing at my idea and making decisions without me. That´s fine - the revenge is sweet!

Our boys in perfect harmony.

Our boys talking ideas.

HAPPY EASTER!!

killing darlings

2011-04-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

We have now spent two days trying to make 18 songs fit into 70 minutes. It doesn´t work. We came down to 12 songs but now we can´t agree on the right order... I don´t want to feel like making compromises but of course that´s what we have to do. It isn´t possible to be totally democratic about the amount of solos. Someone will be doing less. It´s time to kill darlings.

And then we have the issue of changing clothes during the show, with no break in the show - how, where, when will we change? And me and Anna getting in and out in our clothes in 1 minute and a half...riiight. And let me tell you, our stylist makes no compromises. No Velcro will be used in this group. Ever.

We haven´t been singing a single note this week nor have we had any champagne. And the political situation in this country is a mess. Rough week. And it´s only Tuesday.

Soundcheck. Trying not to exhaust ourselves too much.

Monday

2011-04-17T23:31:00.000-07:00

Monday morning. Pretty grey feeling. Watched of course the elections last night and well, lets just say I am not that happy with the results... Is it so that I now need to dig out my old Finnish Mark because we are soon leaving the EU?
On my way to rehearsals, which is a happy thing. I think it is almost two months since last time. We have been on the road since end of January. Today will be all about how to shorten Pink Noise by Fork from 2,5h to 70 minutes..because that is the time we have for doing the show in Edinburgh. Yeah, we are going to the Fringe festival in August to do 21 shows in 23 days! It´s such a crazy idea that of course we have to do it.:)
And then we have to come up with good promotion texts. How do you explain something like Fork and Pink Noise in 40 words?? I will let you know as soon as we know...

By the way, I am Mia and this blog is about my life in the a cappella group Fork. About whats going on backstage, what our dreams, goals, hopes and fears are and how we put up with each other day after day.... And of course about our way to the Fringe festival and Edinburgh.

For those of you not familiar with Fork - well just check out www.fork.fi or Fork on facebook
We are a bunch of people who many years ago decided to start a band. We didn´t feel that a band with a flute, a bas guitar, a piano and a violin was really that hip and cool so we went a cappella. No instruments, only voices. Today this is our full time job.

This is us. Kasper, Anna, Jonte and me.